Conclusions

Our experiment has ended. I have survived this first year of so many unknowns. Last night JT said, "The year sure went fast!" "Thanks for doing this for me."

This morning we began our last official day of school ON TIME! I don't think we've started many mornings when I said we would, but for some reason, today we were feeling inspired. We only planned for a half day of school, since today was also our youngest's last day of Kindergarten and they had a half day.

We had four things on our list for the day.

1. Spelling test
2. Talk about what we accomplished this year and changes we can put in place for next year.
3. Make some summer plans.
4. Register for a subscription at BrainPop.

The spelling test went well. 100% after he had only 9 out of 20 right on the pretest last week. He had been a little discouraged by the pretest score. We talked about how he would need to work hard at learning those words if he wanted a good grade. He was very happy that he pulled off the perfect score. I honestly was amazed that he did it. This was probably his hardest list. Some of the words: necessary, recommend, ascending, descending, duodenum (his suggestion!), concentration.

When we finished the test we moved on to talking about where we have been and where we are heading. We went subject by subject and talked through some of the new things he had learned. We both agreed that he had made a lot of progress in spelling. We decided that next year we will spend more time focusing on the meanings of words rather than just how to spell them. I'm thinking a list of 10 words each week (instead of 20) with the expectation that he be able to spell and define them on the final test. We also will need to spend more time on alphabetizing.

In Math, we felt that he had made real progress in his knowledge of fractions and decimals. He also learned to factor numbers and identify prime numbers. We agreed he needs to focus on memorization of basic math facts, instead of his unusual method of quick calculation every time. He will also need much more practice in long division.

Even though he seems to completely despise composition, he managed to do a decent job on his assignments this year. For next year we will be working on improving his outlining skills, adding more descriptive detail and more variety in word choices. I would also like him to become more proficient at keyboarding. I really think he would put forth more effort in content if he didn't need to spend so much energy on the physical side of writing.

Science... the subject we were so excited to have under our control this year, really didn't pan out the way I expected. I spent far too much time trying desperately to do ALL the school provided and never went far enough beyond what they had. Yes, we had our moments where we explored a tangent, but overall we did not do what we could have. JT said his favorite part of science this year was our unit on digestion. That was the one time we did our own thing completely, with not a bit of the school's material. He can very accurately describe the process of digestion from start to finish in all of it's gory details. That is one thing I am very proud to have taught him.

We both felt that Spanish, geography, history and reading could have been far more challenging. I think most of that could easily be blamed on me and lack of motivation. The material provided by the school in those subjects was below level for JT and I knew it, but I still did not invest the time and energy to bring them up to an appropriate place for him.

Overall, I think the year was a success for me and JT. We were both challenged to learn new things and we had fun. I still wonder how I am going to keep up with him as we move along this path. I wonder how in the world I am going to have the energy necessary to keep both of the boys learning and engaged next year. I wonder if they will tire of being with me both day and night long before their years of education are complete. But all this wondering is a good thing... after all, isn't that what education is about?

So Close....

I really can not believe we are so close to the end of our school year! We only have 3 school days left in our house before we leave the realms of 3rd grade.

We had our GIEP meeting with the cyber school on the 13th. It's kind of a joke to me now to take part in these meetings. When JT was in brick and mortar school, I would prepare my test results and other relevant data to defend my position. Now I say, "Sounds fine." It's not that the school is doing much to assist my child in getting an appropriate education, it's that they don't prevent him from having one. By allowing me the freedom to tweek what they offer, they provide him with opportunities he would never have had in his former setting. While I am sad that they can't see how much better they could make things, I am happy that this works well for us.

One thing that did come out of the meeting...I had to fill out a survey asking about strengths, weaknesses and goals for the future. One of the things I mentioned was that JT is more than likely 'below level' in organizational and study skills. I asked if they had anything to offer that I could use to help him work on those skills. The team agreed to sign him up for a Lincoln Interactive class called "Exploring Study Skills". This class is a self-paced enrichment course. He will have until Dec of 2009 to complete it. I like the fact that this is graded work. He will have some accountability in a subject in which he does not excel. We also need to learn more about the technology involved for the interactive classes. Up until now we have really had little to do with the 'cyber' aspect of our cyberschool! Our IS told me if he decides he doesn't like it, we can always drop the course.

We also made another new committment this week. JT will be taking violin lessons this summer! We have talked about trying a new instrument for some time (he already plays piano and a bit of guitar) but had put off the decision. He only has 3 piano lessons through the summer months, so we thought it might be a good time to try something new. We signed up for ten 30-minute classes at the local university. Now we need to make a road trip to the closest place that rents violins (45 minutes away).

Next week, I plan to blog about the rest of our summer education and fun plans...and then take my own summer sabbatical until July. My daughter is getting married in mid-June and once school is out, we will be in the heat of the final planning. After the dust settles, I will be cleaning and making improvements to the classroom for next year!

What am I going to do with myself with all this free time? :-)

Fractions and Praise

I had a few ah-ha moments this week.

JT was having a hard time reducing fractions. At first he really seemed to understand and would successfully complete the problems I would assign. Occasionally, he would have these strange moments where he'd take wild guesses at answers. I thought he was just having a hard time focusing. Turns out, that was not the problem...

Most of the early problems we encountered involved fractions like: 5/25 or 3/9. He could do those no problem. Then we came across.... 12/39. The wild guesses began. I suddenly realized he didn't understand what we had really been doing. He thought the numerator was always the number you used to reduce the fraction! After some further conversation, he was able to handle numbers like 27/72. All of this made me consider the fact that I have a hard time knowing when he is goofing off or not really getting it.

What had annoyed me in the whole situation was the fact that I felt like I had explained it well enough. We had spent the last couple days factoring numbers and discussing primes. Sometimes I get so frustrated when I feel like I need to repeat things over and over again. It's not that he's not understanding and needs more explanation, it's that he thinks he knows what I'm saying and stops listening. Did this come about because he cruised through his first couple of years in school so easily? Or does he just naturally think he knows it all?

I've been reading a very good book this week, "How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer. In this book, he brings up a study done by Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford. She took a group of students in New York and gave each an easy test. When they finished she said one of two things to them, "You must be smart at this" or "You must have worked really hard". The students then had a choice to take either a test similar to the one they just took, or a harder test. Out of the kids that had been praised for their effort, 90% chose the harder test. The ones praised for their intelligence mostly chose the easier test. The study went on with several more testing options resulting in the children that were praised for their effort taking on more challenges than the ones praised for intelligence.

This study just blew me away. I thought of all the times I tell JT he is 'a smart kid'. Not neccesarily in a way that I would think of as trying to make him feel better than others, just as a positive statement for something he was doing. I wondered if I was responsible for making him lack motivation in the ways I praise him. So....I decided to change that this week.

When I gave JT an assignment Tuesday, he thought it was 'too hard'. He sat there complaining with no signs of getting starting. When I told him he would 'have to work hard' and that he would 'learn a lot if he tried it' he gave in and began to work. When he finished I praised him with the phrase, "You really worked hard on that!", he told me he was happy I had assigned that because he learned something new. What an eye opener!

Depth

At the end of last week, we decided to spend a little more time really exploring the biology of the digestive tract. This subject has great appeal for small boys; you get to talk about bodily functions in class and no one stops you! One morning this week, as I was doing my before school day web surfing, JT was quizzing me about body parts.

"Mom, is your bicep or tricep the one on top of your arm?" "Mom, where exactly is my liver?" Then he disappeared. A few minutes later, he came back in the room and said, "You are REALLY going to like what I did downstairs!" This being the kind of comment that puts fear in my heart, I immediately went down to check it out.

The picture on the right is what I found on the board in the classroom. (The stars were an unrelated bit of earlier art) Not bad, for his first serious attempt. I pointed out that the large intestine shouldn't really be connected to the stomach. That turned into a search for a good picture of the digestive tract. Here is what we found. Cool pic. We printed one out on card stock paper and started our studies. We used the same book by Dr. Mehmet Oz that we were using to study the immune system. We read about the function of each organ. When we got to the part about how bile works to make fat soluble and it was compared to dish soap cutting through grease, we went to the kitchen for an oil, water and dish soap experiment. Later we read about the evils of High Fructose Corn Syrup (which I have been telling him for years and now he believes) and the importance of fiber in our diets.

What an exciting day for both of us! He was engaged and learning. I felt that I had provided opportunity for him to explore something important. Most importantly, he saw that when he had a question, he could do the work to find an answer.

I have found that since we have moved out of the Calvert material and onto our own agenda, we are spending more time per subject and covering fewer subjects per day. This has allowed us the freedom to really dive into each topic.

For history, we have been watching the DVD's of the John Adams series done by HBO. The series is based on the book by David McCullough. Some of the content is not appropriate for 8 year olds, but I have previewed and skipped when I thought necessary. If you have not watched it, I highly recommend this series.

In math, we continue to use the Fractions book in the Life of Fred series. We have slowed the pace a bit and added supplemental material to be sure JT is confident in each concept before moving on. We also drill some multiplication facts daily.

Overall, I think this last month is going to prove to be the most exciting month of schooling this year. I hope we can keep it up in the fall. Actually, JT has asked if we can keep having spelling tests through the summer.... I'll have to think about that one.